PERSONNEL:
Sean Nichols: drums
Al Hahn: bass, vocals
Rick D’Anjolell: guitar, vocals

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
(Acoustic, produced by Dave Smith and Almighty Shuhorn)
Without Her
Dead Flowers

Side B
(Electric, produced by Jim Femino)
Penn’s Madonna
Harry Reasoner

Almighty Shuhorn singer-songwriter Rick D’Anjolell and I got to be good friends in the early ’90s. I remember going to a Halloween party in NYC with him, after which we tried and failed to see a comet in the skies of Sunnyside. His band and my band at the time, Tang S’Dang, were both “signed” to New Jersey-based August Records, and we played a gig or two together. (Here’s a 1992 review of one of those shows in the Drexel University Triangle; it was reported that I “seemed real cool”) Back then, Rick lived in Media, PA; he later moved to Wilmington, NC, and became tight with my old pal Kenyata Sullivan and helped found the now-legendary miracle of collective artistic action that was WE Fest. This modest, four-song demo of affable indie-pop was followed by a 7″ single, “No, No, No” b/w “April Turns To June,” produced by Adam Lasus (Yo La Tengo, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. etc.); and in 1992 by a proper CD, Slip It In, released on the aforementioned label, which put out my band’s Bigger & Harder that same year.

Richard D’Anjolell has been a real estate agent in Oak Island, NC, for nearly 25 years, but he’s stayed active musically, most recently in a duo/band with singer/percussionist Shelia Bell named Nowcat. You can hear more of his songs here, and this bio, although not up to date, provides a ton more background on a talented and ambitious artist that never achieved the success he deserved but nevertheless forged a happy musical life for himself.

The post Almighty ShuHorn, Private Hearing, 1991 appeared first on Jim Santo's Demo Universe.

“Sci-Fi Pod” blasts off on a surf-garage tip, a faint scent of tacos in the air. “Gravy” skitters and slides on buzzy fuzz bass. “Not Your Crowd” cooly snaps its fingers and sashays away on a black cloud of bass fuzz. “Green Grass” makes its bid for pop stardom with the opening line: “Green, green grass/Never burned as fast/As that hula skirt shake ’round her ass that night/You set it on fire.” Can they play da blooz? You betcha! It’s called “This, that, and the other thing” and it’s silly as all get out. “The Space Song” brings us sadly to the end, bobbing and weaving like Pavement kidnapped by Captain Beefheart. Sez here they’ve got a CD for five bucks. Buy it.
— Jim Santo’s Demo Universe, 1997

If the Conquistadors were a cartoon they’d be the Itchy and Scratchy Show. Both are manic yet sublime. Their absence of hesitation enhances their ability to rock any proverbial indy house from Chapel Hill to Olympia “SciFi Pod” takes you to Alpha Centuri and dumps you on a space refueling platform just west of the lost moon of Jupiter, Chlamydia. A three piece never sounded so much like a four piece or something like that. They can jettison their country roots in a nano second and replace the nuclear cylinders with straight-up punkified octane while keeping you in a strangehold. Never before has rock music driven a man to drop his thesaurus and head for the nearest VFW post for a good dose of homegrown bliss. That or professional wrestling. They make Bryan Adams cut with a freaking plastic steak knife.
— sockboy, Salt For Slugs, Winter 1997/1998

PERSONNEL:
Ben Johnston and ?

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
Sci-Fi Pod
Gravy
Not Your Crowd
Green Grass
This, that, and the other thing
The Space Song

Little more to say, really. Ben Johnson was making music in Fayetteville, Arkansas, when this ribbon dropped into ol’ POB 4218. He might be a tech worker in Austin now; can’t be sure. Other than my original review — and the fabulous assessment, above, by sockboy in the zine Salt For Slugs (a PDF of which I miraculously located on Gurgle) — there’s no evidence of this incarnation of The Conquistadors (as you can imagine there have been more than a few over the past 60 or so years of rock history) ever having existed, let alone a CD. And yet, this is a thoroughly enjoyable album, as good as any released that year. Existence is random! I’m grateful for the opportunity to share this recording, which would otherwise be lost to history!

The post The Conquistadors, Conq-a-Schön Demo, 1997 appeared first on Jim Santo's Demo Universe.

PERSONNEL:
Mark Beer: guitars, backing vocals
Paul Kmiotek: bass, vocals
Frank Nardozza: guitars
Jade Moede: drums

Thanks to Joel, Peggy, George, Linda, & Nick, without whos (sic) equipment this tape would have been impossible.

Art by PK (apologies to Edward Gorey)

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
Jagged, Thirsty, and Mean
Satan Rearranged My Furniture
The Confession
Down In The City
Frigid Smile
Bastard Son
Anymore
Little People

Side B
Samantha
The Owl’s Claw
Good Excuse To Kill
Spider-Man
The Lonesome Death of Jenny Levin
Dead Again
Fantasy Rose
Daddy’s Buried On The Moon

“Live, into the studio with Sean Walsh, and with him, in person, are The Tornados! (screaming, pained laughter) Torpedos! I’m sorry guys! I’m sorry!”

Leave it to a Jersey band to humiliate themselves at the start of their own demo tape. Second only to Long Island bands in their masochism! A successor (possibly the successor) to 1991’s solid Running With Scissors (see below), Stump is a killer cassette of top-notch garage-rock! The song titles hint at the dark subject matter, but it’s all in good 1-2-3-4-FUN. Line-up is largely unchanged from the Scissors, but Rich Russo is replaced on drums by Jade Moede, who’s remained active musically but is better known as a visual artist.

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PERSONNEL:
Kipp Shives: vocals, guitar
Scott Taylor: guitar
Milton Hall: bass
Brian Kennedy: drums

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
Sweetest Girl I Know
At All
Soul Sista
Ghetto Blaster: Somebody 1996
Sid & Nancy
Am I Punk Enough to Love Ya?
It’s Been a Long Time Since 1989
Kootchypop Situation

Side B
Teenage Revolution
Bored Suburban Youth
Drinking with the Winos in Bars
Situation Overload
Frank’s Hot Dogs
Blastro Ca-Castro
Lilly
Sara

“At All” b/w “Kootchiepop Situation”
Edisto Records, 1996
“Backseat” on Edisto Sampler 33-1/3 7″ EP

Ghetto Blaster, In/Humanity, Sticky– Annies, Thursday, 23rd
I must admit, when I heard that my fellow Free Times writer and self proclaimed “Podunk Rock Journalist”, Kipp Shives, had started his own band, after years of promoting everybody else, I was skeptical. After seeing a recent show, however, count me among the fans of Ghetto Blaster and their take on the stereotypical indie-rock guitar band sound. Shives plays a loose, limber guitar style characterized by casual riffing and lots of effects to fatten up the three piece’s sound, which is anchored by a solid, if anonymous, rhythm section. The songs themselves are what puts the band over the top, obnoxious odes to being a punk rocker in a non-punk world, with a large dose of humor and sarcasm included.
— Kevin Oliver, The Beat, Columbia (SC) Free Times, March 22, 1995

Swinging, snarling, smirking — always smirking — squalling, punishing and funny, stinking of beer and Carolina tobacco, Ghetto Blaster’s Eras Of Rock is a ’90s indie-rock gem! The writing here is very strong; the performances urgent, sweaty, and rubbertight; and the recording low-ish-fi but satisfyingly loud and clear. “At All” b/w “Kootchiepop Situation” was released as a 7″ single by Edisto Records in 1996, and other songs appeared on compilations every year or so, but Eras Of Rock never got a proper release, which is baffling and a damn shame!

In 2013, Kipp Shives (love that guy’s name) put all of Eras Of Rock online as a YouTube playlist, if you prefer to listen to music with pictures. (Might sound better too; I haven’t checked.) Kipp also has a bunch of songs up on Soundcloud, but he’s added nothing new since 2015.

UPDATE 27 Aug 2024: Kipp replies on Zuckface: “Thanks for writing up this soon to be 30 year old cassette, Jim Santo. It was recorded in Sugar‘s mini storage practice space in Athens, GA with Mercyland‘s David Barbe & Jack-O-Nuts‘ Brooks Carter on state of the art 8-track A Dat in one whole day for $150 and our drummer was late. I think we beat 22 or 23 songs out of those guys and cut this down to what you have here. Thanks again for giving Eras yet another resurrection.”

The post Ghetto Blaster, Eras Of Rock, 1995 appeared first on Jim Santo's Demo Universe.

Bottle-fed on The Beatles, weaned on XTC and Squeeze and deflowered by NYC funk-rock, Motel Matches pumps out smart, hyperactive pop with a cynical twist. I love it, but I am a music critic and this is critic’s music. I can’t imagine who else would get into this stuff; it’s too edgy for the oldsters and too competent for the slacker set. Don’t believe me? Ask Adrien Belew how his last record did. On the other hand, the biz is all a-buzz about Skeleton Key, another Manhattan act mining similar territory to Motel Matches, so perhaps their time has come. We’ll see, I guess.

PERSONNEL:
Scotty Conant: vocals, guitar, bass
Andy Elder: drums, percussion

Engineered by Jed R. and Steve

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
Elevator Man
Sugar & Spice (And Dirty Device)
Meantime
Stealer

Listening again now, with the benefit of two decades’ hindsight and more research than was practical in 1995, I’m struck that my original review didn’t pick up on the significant metal influences here. It would have made sense if I had; drummer Andy Elder came to this project from the Brooklyn-based thrash metal band First Order, and stringman Scotty Conant later appeared on 2010’s Patience and Perserverance, by retro metal heads Gypsyhawk.

And that’s about it for Motel Matches; aside from my own reviews in the DuBase, and uh, this cassette on my desk, I couldn’t locate any evidence of this quote-unquote band’s existence. Their time never came. It’s a shame; this is a terrific recording from start to finish, top to bottom. Wish I knew more about it.

p.s: Motel Matches’ contact address in 1995 was an apartment on MacDougal Street in New York City’s Soho neighborhood that recently sold for $675,000. Times change.

The post Motel Matches, S/T, 1995 appeared first on Jim Santo's Demo Universe.

PERSONNEL:
Andy Bigan: drums
Jon Chaikin: guitar, vocals
Walter Roberti: lead guitar
Walter Sczesny: vocals, bass

Engineer, keyboards: Pete Puleo
Mixed by David Eng

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
Best Behavior
Day After Day
Out Of Luck
Before We’ve Gone

This one of the oldest demo tapes in my collection; I probably reviewed it under my pen name, Andy Glass, for my Independents’ Day! column in the Long Island free weekly The Musician’s Exchange.

It’s also one of my favorite tapes, and it was such a joy to listen to this again! Jangle-pop aficionados will absolutely adore it! The best song here, the Jon Chaikin-penned “Day After Day” (not the Badfinger song!) was previously released as a 7″ single in 1988 on Chaikin’s Galt Records label, with Walter Sczesny‘s “Out Of Luck” on the B-side. (I have a copy, and you all should be jealous.)

In 1991, Enemies In The Grass released a 12″ EP, Blind Crossing, that includes all four of these songs, plus two sings written by former Cyclones/Fleshtones/Mad Violet bassist Sczesny, “Wants It That Way” and “Kind Of Girl.” That same year, “Wants It That Way” appeared on Galt’s essential CD Hear No Evil: A Compilation, which brought together a host of excellent NY/NJ underground faves: Melting Hopefuls, Nate Ouderkirk, Third Eye Butterfly and Mystery Date, among others. Yet another EITG song, “Yesterday’s Gone,” closed out Hear No Evil Volume Two, released in 1993. That marks the end of the Enemies. Chaikin put out a 7″ single by Jerry Kitzrow & Wild Honey in 1993, and two by Lost, Lonely & Vicious in 1995, at which point Galt came to a halt.

Jon (who prior to EITG played guitar and sang with Colouring Book, a shortlived band that featured the late Aussie drummer Hamish Kilgour) moved to California and became a mastering engineer, working on a boatload of releases by Portland/San Francisco-based Shelflife Records. mostly recently albums by Jetstream Pony and The Luxembourg Signal, both in 2020. Hasn’t been seen since. Jon and I were good friends back when our bands played at the Ludlow Cafe, but I lost touch with him. Hope he sees this!

Drummer Andy Bigan has had a very successful and interesting career since then (including the purchase of an historic Queens tavern with David Eng)!

Lead guitarist Walter Roberti is now living in LA. He’s remained active — released an album in 1995 with Xan Abeyratne, and backed The Platters, Ben E. King, and The Drifters on the oldies circuit — and Robert recently posted a new single with Virginia Summerville on Soundcloud.

Walter Sczesny apparently vanished from music history after 1993. I just friended a guy who might be him on Facebook, so we’ll see where that leads.

The post Enemies In The Grass, S/T, 1989 appeared first on Jim Santo's Demo Universe.

Hebephrenic’s fifth release since 1990 mates home-tape pop with club-kid grooves, producing a dark offspring with a crooked smile. I’ve been laboring over the apt comparison for days. Aphex Twin eaten by Dinosaur Jr? Moonshake with an 8-track? The glib phrase eludes me. Kraftwerk sucking Syd Barrett? I give up. Just grab this tape; you won’t be disappointed. Maybe Tapehiss could send me old stuff for context? Hope so.

PERSONNEL:
Scott Carr: vocals & music

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
Blisters
Sure As Breath
Fire
Yellow
Hide
Tak
Watch Me Close My Eyes
Spiralism
Test
Judgement

Side B
Smoke
Soul Necrosis
Tic Toc
Fluid
Mad Life
Powder
Sky (Part One)
Stuck
Thief
Green

Honestly, thank goodness for Discogs! Not only is there an entry about this ribbon, with an image of the J-card that I lost long ago, and a track list (copied above), the entry for Hide helpfully reminded me that this tape came out on Tapehiss (renamed Tape Hiss Recordings), a cassette label operated for many years by suburban Philadelphia resident Scott Carr. Carr, who also recorded as Analog Sunsets (listen to the full album on Youtube), was at various times a member of Eggomatic, The Hot Buttered Elves, and the Tapegerm Collective. Carr is still making music (check out his 2020 remake of this tape’s title track, below); you can check out his full catalog at tapehiss.net. Twenty-five years after its release — and despite an attention-challenging 90-minute program — the glum and lysergic, techno-slacker vibe of Hide is still a rewarding listen.

The post Hebephrenic, Hide, 1999 appeared first on Jim Santo's Demo Universe.

Listening to The Stuffings is not a casual undertaking. Their, um, sound (music doesn’t seem to apply) is disorienting, maddening and ultimately exhausting. Using the same tools as a million other bored kids with crappy gear and loads of time, this amorphous, amoebic ensemble (apparently led by the mysterious C. Gregory), through sheer purity of vision and boundless imagination, produce works of sublime strangeness. Much of it is funny, in a juvenile way, but the bizarreness is so persistent and strong that you can’t mistake it for fooling around. Deny it if you will (and I know you’ll try), but this is Art with a capital Dada. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to have a lie down.

PERSONNEL:
I Strangle People
Released April 1, 1995
At this time The Stuffings consist of:
C. Gregory, Scott P, M. Sorriero, K. Joy G, D. Pratt, J. Wilcox, A. King, R.T. Pollard, Salinger Lewis, K. Werner
recorded and mixed March 31, 1995-April 17, 1995, Stuffings Studio, Boston

“I Strangle People” is what I’d like to do, have done, will do right now, have read about, think about if I knew any, dream about, if I cared enough, do to myself if I didn’t keep passing out.

— Chris Gregory

Macro Metal
Released June 1, 1995
The Stuffings on this album:
C. Gregory
M. Sorriero
D. Pratt
K 10 Joy G
J. Wilcox
M. Etheridge on “Window’s Remix” (w/o permission)
Guest vocals on “Militracey” – Mark Tracy
Keller was supposed to guest…but did not…
Recording and engineering – C. Gregory
Cover art – C. Gregory
Other Stuffers not included but still influencial:
Scott P, Salinger Lewis, R.T. Pollard, A. King, S. Gentile, D. San Angelo, O. Irretrievable

TRACK LISTING:
Yeah, no. Not doing it. There are 70+ “songs” on this two tapes, and you can’t make me!

To my shock, amazement, and to be perfectly honest, relief, both of these insane recordings are, at this writing, available on Bandcamp, along with 50+ more, all of which are probably unlistenable, but hey, it saves me the trouble (and SSD storage) of digitizing two cassettes that, again to be frank, I don’t even know why I’ve held onto for more than two decades.

I Strangle People and Macro Metal were the first tapes I received from Chris Gregory (my original review, above, combined them, just as I’m doing now), but hardly the last: January 1996 brought Lumber (“This tape documents the patient…in an advanced state of decay”); and October of that year saw the arrival of four cassettes: Hhhuuurrh…glover by The Stuffings (“Disturbing soundscrapes and straitjacket pop flash by like scenes from a half-forgotten nightmare”), Physical Planting by Fuscillage (“Toxic folk songs by C. Gregory and Miss K10 Joy, whose vocals squirm like caustic worms into your ear…”), Walker, by Ear Or Cincture (“Handy to have if you ever need to torture a prisoner”), and a shockingly normal solo tape by Stuffings member Damien Pratt.

March 1997 brought two more: a live album, (the Power of) The Right Angle (“Ya gotta be a big Stuffings fan to dig it, and I don’t know if such a creature exists.”) and Martha’s Mutation (“Can I sit and listen to more than a few minutes of this? No.”); and finally, in 1997, Easy To See (“Only the most hard-core lo-fi lunatic will last more than a few minutes”). Most of these and more — so much more, more than anyone can bear — is up on Bandcamp, and I’ve added links for them.

Curious? Have at it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

The post The Stuffings, I Strangle People & Macro Metal, 1995 appeared first on Jim Santo's Demo Universe.

Punchy punk-pop, bristling with hooks and bursting with smart, cynical lyrics… need I say more? Disillusioned youth never sounded better. Gallo and Lanza trade lead and backing vocal chores; she shrieks and roars (sweetly), he yelps the words in a frenzy before his head explodes. Only the instrumental “Dragonfly” fails to deliver a decisive blow, but I’ll forgive ’em that error in judgement, ’cause the tape ends with a “sell-out edit” of “Red, Green, Blue,” which gets my vote for national anthem of 1996: “Vultures suck, culture’s fucked/T.V. the way to reality.”

— Jim Santo’s Demo Universe

PERSONNEL:
Lisa Gallo: vocals, bass
Hector Lonza: vocals, guitar
Mark Tristan: drums

Produced by Big Top
Engineered by Steve [illegible]

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
Pigtails
Red, Green, Blue
Pop Song
Hey, Boy
Toaster
Dragonfly
Red, Green, Blue (Sell-Out Edit)

With its tiny type, poorly chosen font and shitty color laser reproduction, this ribbon’s J-card was miserable to begin with and now? Forget about it! Whatever, this is a fun tape, punky & noisy. The idea of a “sell-out edit” is so quaint now, but I’m sure they were sincere! As if, right? Formed in Houston, Big Top released “Red, Green, Blue” on a split “7 with local punk band The Freshmakers in 1996 before breaking up in ’98. Guitarist Hector Lanza (real name: Hugo Hector Lanza) moved to Austin (as one does) and formed a band called Rainbow Dragon, last active in 2015. Lisa Gallo-Roth went on to join Houston post-rock/ambient band My Twilight Pilot , active as recently as 2018. Mark Tristan has disappeared from recorded music history.

The post Big Top, Textbook For The T.V. Generation, 1996 appeared first on Jim Santo's Demo Universe.

PERSONNEL:
Ed Slack: music, lyrics, guitar, legwork
Constance Sexton: singing, lyrics, vibe, music
Pete: drums
Steve: bass

Recorded at Enharmonik Studios, Sacramento, CA
Engineered by Darin Keatley

When we made this we’d played together for eleven weeks (we’re getting better).

TRACK LISTING:
Side A
Bos Wavos
Cross
Chain

Side B
I’d Like
Gink
World Of Fear

The antisemitic imagery on the J-card, obvious to me now, soils my memory of this otherwise enjoyable reverb-drenched goth-noise tape. Ed Slack once mailed me the skull of a rattlesnake, painted in red nail polish with wood screws in the eye sockets, that had almost killed his dog. I enjoyed that! Dr. Ed is a psychologist, author of Two Legged Snakes: Understanding and Handling Manipulative People (2012), and (still) musician who resides in Nashville, Tennessee; he is a member of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Could not locate evidence of Connie Sexton doing anything else musicially; she might be a clerk in a California state office.

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